Haia closes over 10,000 Twitter accounts in 2014

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) has shut down 10,117 Twitter accounts during the year because of religious violations, its spokesman, Turki Al-Shulail, has revealed.“Their users were committing religious and ethical violations. Haia blocked and arrested some of their owners. However, it was hard to follow all the accounts due to the advanced security used in this kind of social media,” he told the media.“The IT crime department at Haia played a major role to close these accounts. Our unit is divided into two sections: The first receives reports and complaints from citizens and residents and the second one monitors and does follow-up operations through websites and software applications,” he pointed out.Ahmed Al-Ahamri, a lawyer specialized in IT crimes told Arab News that Saudi law punishes IT-related crimes with prison sentences that may exceed five years as well as fines as high as SR3 million.“The crimes include religious or moral violations via the Internet. The number of these accounts has increased during the last five years and there is a need to put an end to them and arrest the users who publish material against our religion and society,” he stressed.

Saudi Arabia plans to introduce Chinese into the curriculum at all education levels

Updated 22 February 2019

Arab News

February 22, 2019 18:07

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JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and China on Friday agreed to include the Chinese language as a curriculum at all stages of education in schools and universities across the Kingdom.
The agreement came during a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a high-level Chinese delegation in the capital Beijing, in a bid to strengthen bilateral friendship and cooperation and deepen the strategic partnership at all levels between both countries.
The move aims to enable a comprehensive strategic partnership to achieve the aspirations of the Saudi and Chinese leaderships and seize the promising opportunities between their two peoples, a relationship which has extended for decades.
The inclusion of the Chinese language will enhance the cultural diversity of students in the Kingdom and contribute to the achievement of the future national goals in the field of education for the Vision 2030.
The introduction of Chinese into the curriculum is an important step toward opening new academic horizons for students of various educational levels in the Kingdom.
Learning Chinese will serve as a bridge between the two peoples and would contribute to increasing trade and cultural ties.